Whys and Wherefores: On Expectations of the "WandaVision" Finale
"You can't always get what you want"
In the wake of its box-office busting, titanic grip on popular culture, every new Marvel project is burdened with glorious purpose. There’s a certain fan expectation that arrives with each new project; reading the tea leaves and searching for Easter eggs as to the future of the MCU allows comic book obsessives to put years of random knowledge to good use. But with each phase that boldly translates more source material lore to the big (and now, small) screens, fan interest has soured into entitlement, as seen most recently with WandaVision.
The first of Disney+’s massive slate of Marvel shows concluded its nine-episode run last week, causing some division among hardcore and casual fans alike — all due to the show being saddled with its own burdens. WandaVision wasn’t originally slated to kick off Marvel’s Disney+ slate — The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was but COVID shut production down last March — so the mostly completely Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany-led series took first at-bat. The choice worked out brilliantly in retrospect, as WandaVision’s homage/parody of Golden Era sitcoms worked to reel casual and hardcore fans alike into the MCU on TV.
The answers to why Wanda and Vision are living in a sitcom don’t unfold until much later in the series, leading the audience to “solve” the mysteries as you’d see in a J.J. Abrams-like mystery box series. The weekly release schedule — standard operating procedure for Disney+ since The Mandalorian’s debut — only further stoked the flames of speculation. Things hit a critical mass after Evan Peters joined, as the actor’s role in Fox’s X-Men series of films led audiences to believe the show was going to finally incorporate mutants into the MCU. From that point forward, WandaVision was must-see TV. Logging onto the internet on Friday mornings without watching the latest episode meant you were wandering into a potential spoiler minefield, populated by the desire to break down every single little detail right away, instead of having to wait. Part of that is due to the nature of obsessive fandom, but the need for urgent discussion and wild speculation is bloated by the fact we’re still in the middle of a pandemic with little new content. These conditions created a perfect situation for WandaVision to become the first monocultural show since Game of Thrones went off the air. The show’s impact was felt in all spheres of the internet, from Twitter to TikTok. Just look at the memes!
Where WandaVision ultimately succeeded, however, is in the depth it provided to a character stuck playing fourth or fifth fiddle in giant crossover movies. It’s not better in the comics either; So much of Wanda’s recent history involves her going crazy in service of larger events without providing any sort of nuance. WandaVision tip-toes around some of these same beats but frames them through grief instead, making Wanda more of a fully-realized character than her comic book counterpart. The show goes to great lengths to remind you how much tragedy Wanda has suffered from the death of her parents, the death of her brother, and the death of her lover. But the real magic trick lies within Olsen’s performance, as she’s capable of nailing slapstick comedy before moving into conveying the deep sense of sadness that’s informed her entire life.
When you pair a deep, compelling exploration with a literal escapist framing device that doubles as a love-letter to the medium of television, the entire show instantly becomes far more relatable than fighting space aliens or searching for magical stones. It’s not surprising WandaVision attracted viewers who might otherwise skip over Marvel fare, but it is interesting to watch that same audience feel hoodwinked when the show leaned into its inherent MCU-ness and ended with a series of CG-brawls. It shouldn’t have come as surprise; the third act of almost every Marvel offering breaks down into a giant fight.
Even with the typical hallmarks of MCU-fare, WandaVision’s ending seems to have frustrated diehard fans as well. Those pouring over Easter eggs in anticipation of the show introducing the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, or even a Doctor Strange cameo were left disappointed when their rampant speculation was otherwise revealed to be some trolling from Paul Bettany. It turns out WandaVision wasn’t designed to withstand the burden of fervent fan expectation, especially when egged on by online theories who were reading too much into the online scuttlebutt that comes with a week-to-week show discourse. It’s cool to see Wanda finally earn the Scarlet Witch moniker roughly six years after the character was introduced, but WandaVision always felt like it was designed to be about the journey more than the destination — something fans overlooked in their hunt for a possible Reed Richards appearance.
Perhaps this is a phenomenon restricted solely to WandaVision and the way it was hyped beforehand. So much of the pre-show conversation from Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige made it seem the events of WandaVision would be the rosetta stone for the next phase of Marvel storytelling. With the series complete, that doesn’t immediately seem to be the case. I have a feeling fans will view the conclusion of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier differently, since the upcoming series will definitely answer who becomes the next Captain America. This is the benefit of the MCU having six shows debut on Disney+ this year; if you don’t like this, there’s something else right around the corner, as the mighty Marvel content machine will continue to march along.
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